Only three of Nigeria’s living heads of state, current and former, have bothered to write a biography. Given its leaders’ refusal or reluctance to record their stewardship, or to promote the study of history in schools, Nigeria’s history has frequently consisted of urban legends, personal beliefs and rival conspiracy theories that vary depending on the […]
Tag Archives: literature and politics
The Struggle for Kwani?’s Soul | Isaac Otidi Amuke
During a June 2019 Heinrich Böll Stiftung memorial event in Berlin, the novelist Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor delivered a moving tribute to Binyavanga Wainaina, who died in Nairobi on 21 May 2019, aged 48. Owuor, whose Binyavanga-edited and Kwani?-published short story “Weight of Whispers” won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2003—the year after Binyavanga’s […]
Dr Stella Nyanzi Wins Appeal at Ugandan Court, Regains Freedom, But Is Possibly Re-arrested
Dr Stella Nyanzi is free. The academic, feminist and queer rights advocate has been in prison for criticising Uganda’s long-serving president Yoweri Museveni. She was found guilty of “cyber harassment” against President Museveni in August 2019 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Nyanzi, through her lawyers, appealed her conviction and sentence, citing unfairness and […]
Professor Taban Lo Liyong Suspended by University of Juba Over Open Letter on South Sudanese States’ Boundaries
The prominent South Sudanese academic and writer Taban Lo Liyong has been suspended without pay by the University of Juba, where he is a professor of literature, after he published an open letter to the US president Donald Trump’s emissary to the country, Tibor P. Nagy, addressing the problem of states and boundaries and urging […]
Dr Stella Nyanzi Publishes Poetry Collection, No Roses From My Mouth, from Jail
Dr Stella Nyanzi, the Ugandan academic and gender and queer rights activist currently in jail for criticising Uganda’s long-serving president Yoweri Museveni, has published a poetry collection. Nyazi, most recently awarded the 2020 Oxfam Novib/PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression, wrote it in jail. The 196-page book, titled No Roses from My Mouth, was […]
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